Memorial for the 23,741 fallen soldiers and 3,150 victims of terror.
Brave, strong, and dedicated to the survival of Israel.
May their memory be a blessing!
Also a beautiful video my daughter, Minna sent to me.
(Source Photo: Andy Blumenthal)
Category Archives: Blessing
Mazel Tov On Jerusalem
Today, Jerusalem has been recognized as the capital of Israel–Mazel tov!
– 70 years after President Truman instructed the State Department to support the U.N. partition plan.
– 50 years since the Six Day War in which Jerusalem was reunified.
– 22 years after the Jerusalem Embassy Act was passed for relocating the U.S. Embassy to the capital, Jerusalem.
Everyone has been patient and waited a long time for this.
As President Trump stated, we are recognizing the reality, the obvious, and “it is the right thing to do!”
Yes, Israel is a sovereign nation with the right to determine their own capital as every nation does.
And Jerusalem is that capital today as it has been historically from the times of the Bible.
We are blessed to be witnessing in our time the miraculous fulfillment of G-d’s promise for the quintessential return of the Israelites to the Promised Land, and toward the ultimate redemption.
From the ashes of the Holocaust, G-d has resurrected and brought us alive again.
Many that I have spoken with today express genuine fear about the ramifications of this announcement of recognition.
But as President Trump displayed today, we must all go forward together courageously and in celebration.
The State of Israel is blooming from its agricultural fields to the incredible medical and technological innovations that are helping people throughout the world.
We must never forget that it is only with G-d’s blessing and under his watchful eye.
May we all pray for peace and security, and let their not be war or terrorism anymore! 😉
(Source Photo: Andy Blumenthal via White House)
Thank You Chaplain Berning
I read about this amazing “Spiritual Communications Board” that Chaplain Joel Nightingale Berning invented for New York-Presbyterian/Columbia University Medical Center.
The board allows hospital patients who are intubated or otherwise can’t talk to communicate their spiritual health and needs.
The top part allows the person to say what religion they are.
The bottom left, are choices for how they feel from afraid and lonely, to nervous, helpless, and hopeless, and even to identify on a scale of 0 to 10, the level of their spiritual pain.
And on the bottom right, they can point to ask for spiritual help… from a prayer, song, or blessing to talk with me, sit with me, get my family or hold my hand.
While hospitals have traditionally been focused on getting a person, with G-d’s help, physically healthy again, it is wonderful to see people, like Chaplain Berning looking after the spiritual side of patients wellness and health as well.
To heal, people don’t just need surgeries and medicines, but they need to deal with all the emotions and pain surrounding their condition and their challenging life situations, and this is something that spiritual caregivers can make a huge difference with.
The health of the soul and the body are linked in more ways than one. 😉
(Source Photo: here with attribution to Chaplain Berning)
Graduation Day
So proud of Minna graduating from University of Maryland today.
And in only 3 1/2 years…record time, while she worked an internship too.
With a major in communication, please G-d she will go out as the keynote speaker said, “the glue that mends broken dialogue” in society.
Communications comes from community…from marketing and branding to public relations and diplomacy, communications is key in everything we do from vetting ideas, innovating, decision making, teamwork, and even social media.
Lots of luck in your future and may Hashem bless you in all that you do.
(Source Photo: Andy Blumenthal)
Lighting The Shabbat Candles
Wanted to share this beautiful picture
The mother is ushering in Shabbat.
The children are gathered around.
The father is in synagogue.
The mother lights the holy candles.
She covers her eyes, and makes the blessing.
“Blessed are you, G-d, King of the Universe, who made us holy with his commandments, and commanded us to kindle the Shabbat light.”
She then blesses her loved ones.
Shabbat is here, and it is time to stop all the routine, mundane things from the regular weekdays.
There is no work on the 7th day–it is the day for Hashem!
Rest, peace, and spirituality are upon us.
Let us celebrate together and rejoice.
(Source Photo: Andy Blumenthal)
From Hymietown To Chickenshit
In 8 years of blogging, I don’t think I have ever written twice about the same topic in a single day–but today, I am appalled..
In 1984, Rev. Jesse Jackson (later the democratic Presidential candidate) referred to the Jewish people and New York as Hymietown.
Roll forward to 2014, and we have “senior administration officials” who have called Israel’s heroic Prime Minister Netanyahu a “Chickensh*t.”
In 1624, Rembrandt painted this beautiful work from the Bible of Balaam riding on the way to curse the Israelites.
The problem for him was that an Angel of G-d stood in his path–his donkey saw it, but not Balaam! (Numbers 22:21-39)
In Genesis 12:3, God says to Abraham: “I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse.”
Of course, the Israelites have to be deserving of this and act according to G-d’s word and by a strict moral code.
For those who act shamefully, with arrogance before G-d, and unapologetically, and use their political platform to name-call, curse, and degrade Israel, no man ultimately needs to answer this, G-d provides the answer himself.
Kudos to House Speaker John Boehner for speaking up against this grotesque, “disrespectful rhetoric” unbecoming the leadership of the United States of America.
Congress should take up a vote unanimously condemning these disgusting, derogatory, Anti-semitic remarks–for those who bless Israel shall be blessed! 😉
(Source Photo here via Wikipedia)
^^^To The Six Million^^^
I am dedicating my 2001st blog post to my 6 million! Jewish brothers and sisters who were murdered in the Holocaust.
May G-d have mercy on their souls and in their name bless us, the survivors, to do his holy bidding and good deeds.
Thank you G-d for bringing me to this time and for all your enduring kindness.
May you give me the strength and inspiration to carry on as a hopefully positive influence in this world.
(Source Photo of Miami Holocaust Memorial: Andy Blumenthal)
To The Holy Land
My youngest daughter, Rebecca, left for The Holy Land today.
I am so proud of her courage, love, and determination to visit there and learn more about her Judaism and Israel.
Rebecca, you are going on an amazing journey, and we are all so happy for you and thinking of you.
We all wish you nothing but the best time, lots of learning and meaning, new friends, and of course G-d’s endless blessings and protection.
May you go in peace and return in peace–all our love. 😉
(Source Photo: Rebecca Blumenthal)
Eulogy For My Beloved Mother, Gerda Blumenthal
We are here today to remember and honor my mother, Gerda Blumenthal, who passed away on Monday.
My mother was my personal heroine, even as just two days earlier, a great hero of the Jewish people died as well–Ariel Sharon, a former Prime Minister of the State of Israel and a hero general who fought militarily to defend his people, but who also disengaged the State of Israel unilaterally from Gaza to make peace.
Sharon’s role in history to secure the Jewish people came on the heels of the Holocaust where 6 million Jews were murdered – one of every three in the entire world!
To my mother, the holocaust was one of the defining moments in her life. She was just 5 years old, when the murderous Nazi secret police, the Gestapo, came up behind my mother and her father on the street in Germany, grabbed him and dragged him off to the concentration camps. My mother, a child, was left alone crying on the streets, until some neighbors found her and brought her home to her mother. Miraculously, her father was one of the few to actually be let out a number of weeks later, as he had already received visas for the family to come to America. He had lost 20-30 pounds in just those few weeks of brutal slave labor and beatings, but he and the family were free to come to this country and start anew.
Like many of the immigrant families who were forced to flee persecution, my mother and her family arrived here penniless, and her father who didn’t even know the language, worked as a tailor to try and support the family. My mother had wanted to pursue her education—and to be a nurse—but when she graduated high school, she was asked to immediately go to work to help the family earn a living in those difficult days. She did this dutifully and worked—mostly doing secretarial work, which was popular in those days—while raising my sister and I and taking care of my dad. My mom would put me on the school bus, rush off to work, and be home in time to make dinner for all of us. Mom was unwavering in her commitment to taking care of us. Mom taught me what family was, what it was to put family first, and what it was to work hard, very hard, always being there to take care of us, even when at times, it seemed like too much for any human being.
My older sister and I are eight years apart. But there was another sibling, Susie, born between us. However, she died as a baby leaving my mother and father bereaved of their 2nd child still in the early years of their marriage. Despite this new challenge in their lives—and what seemed like another personal test—my mother carried on with my father to build the family, and I came along four years later. I have always tried to make my mother and father proud of me, especially in light of the loss of their other child.
My mother and father—were best friends, but like all loving couples, they also argued—but they always came back together again to make up and bond. And I learned well from them that in relationships, we can argue, but we can work things out—even though it’s not always easy to say I’m sorry or I was wrong, but we come back together because we are a family–we love each other and have that commitment. The loss of my mom is magnified, because of that deep love, but also because we are a small family that has always lived a hop, skip, and jump from each other—like one extended family.
My mother and father put my sister and I through private Jewish school, all the years, and then through college and graduate school—so that I was able to get my MBA and my sister her PhD. Even in later years, she helped babysit for my children and was like a second mother to them, so that my wife, Dossy could get her PhD as well. She loved my daughters—Minna and Rebecca, and my niece, Yaffa, so much. My mother and my father even moved here to Silver Spring in 2000—soon after we relocated here to work for the government—so they could be with us and the grandchildren—even though my mother really loved living in Riverdale, NY and the community and friends there, and would otherwise never have left there.
I will never forget the endless sacrifices made for us, which contrasts to many other families in modern times, when people seem more focused on career, their own interests and happiness, and mired in the world of the Internet and social media. But my mom taught me that while we may want a lot of different things, we need to put our priorities in order and focus on what is really important—family, friends, and faith.
Like Ariel Sharon who suffered a stroke eight years ago, my mother was diagnosed with the horrible disease of Parkinson’s—also eight years ago. My mother went from being the one who took care of everyone to where my father, in his own old age, and his own illness, had to take care of her. He did this with unbelievable courage and tirelessly, he did everything for her—everything! Even when we all thought she needed to go to the nursing home, he brought her home and cared for her himself for two years under extremely trying circumstances. Until this last April, when my mother was hospitalized again and was too ill to go home again. She went to the Hebrew Home In Rockville, and later because of her severe pain was put under hospice care. My mom unfortunately suffered horribly—more than we have ever seen anyone suffer. When she passed this week, I was horrified to lose my mother, as anyone would be, and at the same time, I was grateful to G-d that perhaps she now had some rest from the all the terrible illness and suffering and was finally at peace.
She died on Monday almost immediately after the Rabbi said the final prayers with her, and so I hope that the prayers and good wishes of the Rabbi and all of us—her family and friends—are heard in heaven and usher her in as a righteous soul, loving wife, mother, and grandmother—and grant her everlasting peace and reward from the Almighty.
Mom, we will always remember everything you have done for us. You taught us what a good traditional Jewish home and values are. Thank you for the love, care, and endless sacrifices. You will live on in the children and grandchildren and hopefully, our lives will be a merit for you. We love you always, and miss you. May G-d welcome you back, grant you peace, and bless you.
Listening and Blessings
Two reflections from this week:
1. Listen to understand:
I heard a colleague talk about the importance of listening. There wasn’t really anything new about that, except he went on to say, “Listen to understand, not to refute or resolve.” The more, I thought about this, the more brilliant I realized this was. How often do we either not really listen to the other person? And when we do listen at all, aren’t we most of the time jumping to either refute what they are saying or resolve their issue? The key though is to listen to understand. Ask questions. Get clarifications. Only once you really listen to the other person and understand what they are saying, can you begin to address the thoughts and feeling they are expressing to you.
2. G-d Blessed You:
Usually when I see people asking for help/money on the streets, they have signs–handwritten, often on cardboard or the like–that says something about their plight. Perhaps, they are homeless, lost their job, ill or disabled, have kids to support…and they are asking for your help and mercy. At the end of the sign or if you give them some change or a few dollars, they say thanks, but also “G-d bless you” in the future tense. And this is really nice to get a blessing in return for some basic charity and kindness. However, there is one poor person begging in downtown D.C., and he says it differently. His sign asks for help and says, “G-d blessed you” in the past-present tense. First, I thought maybe this was just a grammatical mistake, but then I realized what he was saying. G-d blessed you, so please give back to others. This wasn’t a thank you wish to the other person, but rather a reason that you should give to begin with. Recognize how fortunate you are (and maybe you don’t even necessarily deserve it), but G-d blessed you, so have mercy and give to others.
Hope these reflections mean something to you the way they do to me, and have a good weekend everyone!
(Source Photo: Andy Blumenthal)
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